Using the guitar’s volume control for tone

Hi

Everyone may already know this, but Ive only just figured it out.

Ive got an electic guitar and a Roland Cube Street amp.

I wanted to, in the future when I can actually play, be able to play a song where say you start of with a clean sound and then go overdriven, think Unforgiven or One by Metallica.

But how do you do that without stopping the song, and using my hand to turn the knob on the amp from clean to r-fier(chugga chugga overdriven sound)?

I know I could buy specific fx pedals, but why should I when Ive got great amp models on the amp. Then I thought, could I use some footswitch to change channels on the amp, there are two on this amp, and two sockets for footswitches, so I could have one channel clean, and other overdriven, and I think I can use an expensive aby footswitch.

but I thought, how do buskers, and performers do it?

The guitar volume control, is the answer, I think.

I experimented, and set up my amp with the sound I wanted for the overdriven parts of the song. Loud, high gain, bit of reverb etc. Tested it in the guitar, great.

Then I turned the guitar volume control to 2, and guess what? Its was a lovely clean sound. Then I turned it up to 10, and its the great chugga overdriven sound. Every step inbetween, adds more overdrive.

So I could play(when Im good enough) Unforgiven, with its clean intro, turn the volume on the guitar up and blast out the overdriven rhythm and lead parts while never having to touch the amp.

Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by: John Vacher

But how do you do that without stopping the song, and using my hand to turn the knob on the amp from clean to r-fier(chugga chugga overdriven sound)?

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=2290

FWIW, many guitarist do also use footswitches to change channels on the amp or engage/disengage pedals. [br][br]Hope this helps!

Originally Posted by: John Vacher

So I could play(when Im good enough) Unforgiven, with its clean intro, turn the volume on the guitar up and blast out the overdriven rhythm and lead parts while never having to touch the amp.

Hope this helps.

A few years ago, I was recording some tracks with Mike Keneally (he plays in Joe Satriani's band), and he was playing through my Axe FX. I was adjusting the gain settings on the amp model -- he pointed out to me that he was actually controlling a lot of that with his volume knob. I was surprised at how much nuance he puts into that, dynamically as he is playing.

Our instructor Mike Olekshy does this all the time when we shoot our song tutorials, too.

(Also: I *think* there are different types of volume pots you can install that increase this capability, so there's not a hard roll-off, making an even smoother transition between clean and dirty. If I'm not mistaken, our instructor Anders Mouridsen had this done?)

But I'm a dummy, so I tend to turn it up and leave it at 10! :)

-Carl.

I'm sure that Christopher's is great and probably more thorough than JB's. but I remember Joe Bonamassa did a YT video on this as well. It has probably been a couple years. Again, I'm sure Christopher's is all you need but just in case you all looking for a little more viewing material in lock-down!